4.07.2010

Sawyers Creek Paddle

Last Wednesday was one of my days off. We wanted to go out for a paddle, but the wind was kicking up a bit. I have reached the age that I don't want to fight the wind while I'm paddling - getting old and lazy I reckon ;) We looked at a few maps and I suggested a creek paddle that I've been wanting to do. Treebeard is my weatherman and he noted that the wind shouldn't bother us too much given the orientation of this particular creek. He's pretty good about things like that so I usually trust him.

We put in off the NC Wildlife boat ramp and headed north. The day was beautiful and we had good company. A friend of ours from Vermont was in the area doing a bit of camping. He comes down each year about this time and spends a couple of weeks camping and exploring -- plus, he brings maple syrup and good cheese ;-)

We observed quite a few turtles along the way. The one above is a spotted turtle, while the two below are both painted turtles - one a little more brightly "painted" than the other...

The birding was good along the creek. Among others, our list included an adult little blue heron, blue-winged and green-winged teal, ospreys, a great blue heron and these two black-crowned night herons. The night herons were particularly good at avoiding being photographed. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you may be able to make out the red eyes of the herons.

Our paddle was not a particularly long one, but it was a very enjoyable one. We will be floating Sawyers Creek again I'm sure.

5 comments:

Hey SwampThing, you take such beautiful pictures. May I ask what kind of camera you have? I put mine through the washing machine yesterday - it was in my coat pocket. Needless to say, I need a new camera.

randy,Sawyers Creek empties into the Pasquotank. Have you ever used the NC Coastal Paddle Trails site? If not, the URL is:http://www.ncsu.edu/paddletrails/Sawyers Creek Trail is trail A-CA-1.

Karen,It has been wonderful to finally get back out on the water. My paddle skills were starting to get rusty!

Terry,Sorry to hear about your camera - that had to hurt! I use a Panasonic DMC-FZ5. It's a bigger than pocket-size, though. If you want a similar camera that is a little smaller you might look at the Panasonic DMC-ZS1. It takes very nice shots and will fit in a pocket (a roomy one, at least).

The turtle pictures are good. I took a picture of one today on the Chowan River and I'm not sure what kind he is wish I did! Don't know much about turtles, know lots more about butterflies. Can you identify a turtle from a picture? Do you know most turtles that we have here? You really seem to know wildlife, plants etc. All your pictures are good and very informative. I enjoy checking in and seeing what new pictures and info you share.Sandbanksgirl